Back to the Future

Back to the Future
Directed by	Robert Zemeckis
Written by	Bob Gale Robert Zemeckis
Starring	Michael J. Fox Christopher Lloyd Thomas F. Wilson Lea Thompson James Tolkan Claudia Wells (Part 1) Elisabeth Shue (Parts 2 & 3) Crispin Glover (Part 1) Jeffrey Weissman (Parts 2 & 3) Mary Steenburgen (Part 3)
Music by	Alan Silvestri
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release date(s)	1985-1990
Running time	337 minutes
Country	USA
Language	English
Gross revenue	$957 million

Back to the Future is a comedic science fiction film series written by Bob Gale and Robert Zemeckis, directed by Zemeckis, produced by Amblin Entertainment and distributed by Universal Pictures. The plot follows the adventures of high school student Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) and scientist Dr. Emmett Brown (Christopher Lloyd) as they use a modified DeLorean automobile to time travel to different periods in the history of Hill Valley, California.

The first film was the highest grossing film of 1985 and became an international phenomenon, leading to the second and third films which were filmed back-to-back and released in 1989 and 1990 respectively. Though the two sequels did not perform quite as well at the box office as the first film, the trilogy remains immensely popular after nearly a quarter century and has yielded such spin-offs as an animated television series and a motion-simulation ride at the Universal Studios Theme Parks in Universal City, California (now closed); Orlando, Florida (now closed), and Osaka, Japan. The film's special effects were done by Industrial Light and Magic.

Main cast

• Michael J. Fox as Marty McFly, Marty McFly, Jr. (son of Marty), Marlene McFly (daughter of Marty), and Seamus McFly (great-great-grandfather of Marty).
• Christopher Lloyd as Dr. Emmett Brown
• Thomas F. Wilson as Biff Tannen, Griff Tannen (grandson of Biff) and Buford "Mad Dog" Tannen (great-grandfather of Biff)
• Lea Thompson as Lorraine Baines (McFly/Tannen) and Maggie McFly (Seamus' wife, Marty's great-great-grandmother)
• James Tolkan as Mr. Strickland and Chief Marshal James Strickland (grandfather)
• Claudia Wells and Elisabeth Shue as Jennifer Parker (McFly)
• Crispin Glover and Jeffrey Weissman as George McFly
• Mary Steenburgen as Clara Clayton

Crew

Storylines

Back to the Future

The DeLorean time machine

16-year-old Marty McFly is accidentally sent back in time to 1955 in a time machine built from a DeLorean by eccentric scientist Emmett L. Brown, also known as "Doc". Upon arriving in 1955, Marty inadvertently causes his mother (Lorraine McFly) to fall in love with him, rather than with his father (George McFly). This begins to cause what Doc Brown later describes as a paradox that would cause Marty to disappear from existence. To make matters worse, Marty did not bring back any extra plutonium to power the time machine, so he must find the 1955 version of Doc Brown to help him reunite his parents and return to 1985. Biff Tannen, the antagonist, further complicates Marty's efforts to return to an unaltered 1985. Marty successfully causes his parents to fall in love and simultaneously ruins the future of Biff Tannen, who in the end is an auto detailer instead of George McFly's co-worker. Marty learns in the end that his family situation has improved because of the way his parents' relationship was changed by his intervention in the past. However, in the films final moments Doc Brown and the DeLorean appear and Doc tells Marty that he has returned from the future, and that Marty must come back to the future with him.

Back to the Future Part II

Doc Brown travels with Marty to the year 2015 where he has discovered Marty's family is in ruins. Marty buys a sports almanac containing the outcomes of 50 years worth (1950–2000) of sporting events. However, Doc catches him and throws the almanac in the trash, where the aged Biff Tannen finds it. While Marty and Doc are at Marty's future house, Old Biff steals the DeLorean time machine and gives the book to himself just before he goes to the dance at the end of the first movie. When Doc and Marty return to 1985, they find that Biff has used the almanac's knowledge for financial gain, which allows him to turn Courthouse Square into a 27 story casino, "own" Hill Valley, get away with the murder of Marty's father, and later marry Marty's mother. Marty learns that Biff was given the book by old Biff on November 12, 1955, so he and Doc go back to that date in order to steal the almanac from Biff before he can use it to destroy their lives. They accomplish this in a complex fashion, often crossing their own past-selves' paths. When the duo are about to travel back to 1985, a lightning bolt strikes the DeLorean and scrambles the time circuits, sending Doc back to 1885 and leaving Marty stranded in 1955.

Back to the Future Part III

After finding out that Doc Brown is trapped in 1885, Marty sets out to find the 1955 Doc to help him fix the DeLorean (which has been waiting for him in a mineshaft for 70 years) and restore it to working order. Learning that Doc gets shot in 1885, Marty travels back in time to save Doc (who becomes a blacksmith) and bring him back to the future. Unfortunately, Marty rips a hole in the fuel line, rendering the DeLorean immobile. Furthermore, Doc falls in love with schoolteacher Clara Clayton, and considers staying in 1885. Marty must convince Doc to come back with him and find a way to get back to his time before it's too late. After several dramatic action scenes involving a speeding locomotive, Marty returns to 1985 in the restored DeLorean. It appears on a train track as planned, and Marty jumps out just in time to see the DeLorean time machine destroyed by a modern train. He worries that Doc has been lost in the past forever, when suddenly Doc Brown appears in a new time machine, modeled after a locomotive. He introduces Marty to Clara (to whom he is now married) and his two sons, Jules and Verne. When Marty asks if Doc and his family are going to the future, Doc replies that he's already been to the future. The locomotive flies across the sky and disappears, and the trilogy ends.

Grosses

Reviews

DVD release

In July 1997, Universal Studios announced that Back to the Future would be one of their first 10 releases to the new format, though it ended up being delayed for five years. It was finally released in 2002 in widescreen, with a black box. In the USA, a fullscreen version was also released.

Framing issues

In September 2002, devoted fans of the films quickly noticed that the video of the widescreen version of Parts II and III contained many shots that had been framed incorrectly, either because the shots were too high or low to center the image correctly, or because they "zoomed in" on the image, eliminating portions of the image on all sides. One notable example is when Marty's futuristic jacket adjusts itself to fit him, the misframed version does not show the sleeves changing size, thus ruining the visual gag.

In May 2003, Universal corrected the problem and prepared "V2" (Version 2) DVDs, that could only be distinguished from the original, flawed DVDs by the mark of a small "V2" near the edge of the discs themselves (and, of course, by comparing the corrected video). In Region 2, the discs were called "R1" for revision 1.

However, Universal did not initially begin packaging the V2 discs with the trilogy box set that was being sent to retailers, and the original discs were not recalled. Instead, Universal set up a toll-free phone number which owners of the original DVDs could call, and ask for a postage-paid envelope to be sent to them. Owners would send their flawed discs to Universal in the envelope, and would soon thereafter receive the corrected "V2" discs by mail.

However, although Parts II and III now contained corrected framing, a new problem appeared with Part III, in that the video contrast was set incorrectly, resulting in scenes that were too dark. Universal then released a third version of the DVD for this film (known in Region 2 as "R2"), and this was sent out as described above.

In January 2005, Universal began a nationwide promotional campaign, announcing that they would reissue the DVDs of the trilogy at a special low price (about half the set's original retail price) on January 25, 2005, and then put the entire trilogy on moratorium a week later, on February 1, 2005, with new stickers on the box declaring "Lowest Price Ever: Own It Before Time Runs Out!" The discs in this release contained no new content or bonus features from the original release: even the packaging was almost identical, except for including the promotional sticker and excluding the multi-page, full color DVD menu booklet. No booklet or chapter insert is included in the revised release, but did finally contain the corrected V2 discs. Curiously, only the disc for Part II displays the "V2" marking on its edge; the Part III disc does not, but fans have analyzed its video carefully and concluded that, despite the lack of the "V2" marking, the Part III disc is the corrected one.

Second DVD release

On October 21, 2008, BTTF.com broke the story that Universal will be releasing each of the "Back to the Future" films individually. The DVDs were released on February 10, 2009. "Back to the Future" became a 2-disc set featuring the documentary "Looking Back to the Future" and "Back to the Future: The Ride."^[1]

Blu-ray release

In June of 2008, a special screening of the trilogy was held in Celebration, Florida. Bob Gale told the crowd they were seeing the digitally remastered version that was going to be used for the blu-ray version of the movies. Gale also spoke to potential supplemental features on a blu-ray version of the trilogy, saying only that never-before-seen bonus materials may appear, though he stopped short of offering any specifics.^[2] No definite release date has yet been announced.

Release formats and features

The footage that was shot with Eric Stoltz in the role of Marty McFly before he was replaced with Michael J. Fox has never been officially released. This footage was not included in Universal's original DVD release in 2002 or in 2009, despite many fans hoping that Universal would include it.

Promotional posters

All three posters were created by noted poster artist Drew Struzan, although the original concept poster of Marty looking at his watch by the car was by Wayne Coe. Each poster features a variation on the same pose, and has the same number of characters present as each movie is numbered.

• For Part I, Marty is dressed in his 1985 clothes standing beside the original DeLorean time machine, raising his sunglasses and looking at his wristwatch.
• For Part II, Marty and Doc are dressed in 2015 clothes beside a hovering DeLorean, raising their sunglasses and looking at their wristwatches.
• For Part III, Marty, Doc and Clara are dressed in 1885 clothes beside a DeLorean on rails, holding the brims of their hats and looking at pocket watches.

A modified version of the Part I artwork, which added Doc Brown to the original image, was used on the cover of the trilogy's DVD release.

Games

• Various video games based on the Back to the Future movies have been released over the years for home video game systems, including the ZX Spectrum and Commodore 64 computers, the Sega Master System, the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive, NES, and Super Nintendo system.
• LJN also released Back to the Future Part II & III for the NES in 1990, which unlike the previous game, was a side scrolling adventure game that allowed traveling back and forth between the different time periods from the trilogy as Marty attempts to correct the timeline and get back to the real 1985.
• A Japanese-only release for the SNES was made based on Back to the Future II. The game was a side-scroller that allowed the player to control Marty on the hoverboard while he battled enemies.
• A 1990 pinball game designed by Joe Kaminkow and Ed Cebula and released by Data East Pinball based on the Back to the Future trilogy. This game features three songs that were featured in the movies: "Back in Time" and "Power of Love" (originally performed by Huey Lewis and the News), and Doubleback (originally performed by ZZ Top).^[3]
• The Nintendo GameCube game, Universal Studios Theme Parks Adventure, featured the Back to the Future: The Ride as a game.
• Criterion Games created a special car for their Burnout Paradise game called "Jansen 88 Special" which is a replica of the DeLorean that can hover through the streets of the virtual city.^[4]
• 88mph is a trophy in the game Ratchet and Clank Future: a Crack in Time^{[citation needed]}; 88mph being the speed at which the DeLorean would activate the time machine.

See also

• DeLorean time machine
• DeLorean DMC-12
• Back to the Future
• Back to the Future Part II
• Back to the Future Part III
• Back to the Future: The Animated Series
• Back to the Future The Ride

References

External links

• Official website
• Back to the Future at the Internet Movie Database
• BTTF.com
• BTTF Frequently Asked Questions written by Bob Gale and Robert Zemeckis
• Back to The Future at Allmovie